Improvement in tobacco-presses



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JOSEPH BUGEY, OI TEST RIVER, MARYLAND.

Specification forming pal-t of Letters Patent No. @,Sfll, dated December 23, 1341.

To all whom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, Josnrn BUCEY, of West River, in the county of Anne Arundel, in the State of lllaryland, have invented certain Improvements in the Manner of Constructing a lress for Pressing or Prizing Tobacco into Hogsheads; and I do -hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

In my press the hogshead in which the tobacco is to be pressed is placed vertically upon the bed or basis of the press, so as to stand centrally between its two cheeks or side timbers, which cheeks are surmounted by a cap or head-block in the usual manner, the whole being strongly formed and bolted together. The cheeks or side timbers ofthe press are to be of such height as not only to receive the hogshead,but also to admit ofthe placing upon it a hollow cylinder or false hogshead, which is usually made of a height somewhat greater than that of the hogshead itself, and is of such diameter as to rest at its lower end upon the upper ends of the staves of said hogshead. In the operation of' packing, thehogshead is to be first filled with tobacco in the usual way. The hollow cylinder or false hogshead is then to be placed upon it and secured in a vertical posi-4 tion, yand this is, in like manner, to be filled with tobacco. A follower is then to be brought down by means of a screw passing through the head-block, and of length sufficient to force all the tobacco contained in the false into the true hogshead. The former is then to be removed, it being so constructed that this may be done while the pressingscrew is still bearing upon the follower. In the act of pressing, the screw is not made to revolve, the nut or female screw being so attached to the cap-piece or head-block ofthe press as to allow it to swivel upon the screw, and thus to raise and lower it and the follower.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a perspective representation of my press 5 and Eig. 2, a section through the screw, the cap piece, and the follower.

A is the hogshead, into which the tobacco is' to be pressed, and B the hollow cylinder or or false hogshead placed upon it. These are to be confined centrally between the cheeks C C of the press and between two removable studs, one of which is seen at D, there being a similar stud on the opposite side of the press. Wedges or checks may be used to confine the hogshead and cylinder in place. The cylinder B may consist of two semi-cylinders conned together by means of hoops E E, furnished with screws or wedges by which to clasp them together; or it may simply spring open sufficiently to allow of its clearing the pressing-screw. Instead of the stud D, I intend sometimes to use chains to conform the true and false hogsheads in place. These chains may be fastened by a staple to one cheek of the press, and may be attached to the other cheek by means of a hook. There should be four such chains, there being one on each side of each hogshead near to its upper end. These will adapt themselves to the hogsheads by the aid of the hooks and links.

Fis the pressi ng-serew,.which passes through a hole in the cap-piece G, just large enough to admit it, there not being any nut or 'female screw let into this cap-timber, as is ordinarily done in presses with frames of wood, by which they are weakened so as not to be capable of sustaining a pressure equal to that which must be borne in the pressing of tobacco.

His a strong metallic box, which must be .securely fastened to the cap-piece G by screw bolts, and, if necessary, by straps of irons` I is the nut or female screw, the lower part of which is received within a circular recess formed inthe under side of the box H for that purpose, as shown in the section, Fig. 2. This nut extends up through a circular opening in the upperside of the box, having a round neck or collar for that purpose. A plate of iron, a, is placed below the nut to protect the timber. rlhe upper part of the nut I above its round neck is made square or polygonal to receive the lever or sweep, Fi 3, to which the motivepower is to be applied, which is generally that of horses.

It will be found most convenient for pack\ ing to sink the lower part of the press into the ground so as to have the upper end of the hogshead about even with it, and this will bring the two ends ofthe lever or sweep sufficiently low for the action ofthe horses. Then the tobacco has been forced into the hogsn head, and the false hogshead has been removed, the head is to be inserted and secured. in the usual way, and the follower is to be run up, ready to renew the operation of pressing. This may be done readily and rapidly by hand, while the horses stand still, nothing more be-n The nnrn ner oi" 'forming and combining the nut and metallic box ns set forth, in conjunction with the combining' them with the headblock or cop-piece7 by means of which :14rrangenient the press can be conveniently Worked byhorse-power, While the head-block of wood 'is left of such strength is to render it perfectly efficient.

JOSEPH BUCEY.

Witnesses:

Trios. T. JONES, T. XV. DoNNoVAN. 

